In all honesty, I'm not sure I've seen David Hockney's work before. I've heard his name countless times, and can tell everyone has a certain awe and appreciation for his work, but I couldn't tell you why he's so incredible to so many people.
Well, that is a thing of the past!
As a part of the 'Contemporary Art at the de Young's installation program, David Hockney's Four Seasons will be on display until January.
This exhibition was one of my favorite 'experiential' art moments.
You enter a square room that has four multi-monitor screens, one for each wall, facing in towards a central circular bench.
Each wall's screen displays a video of a different season — fall, winter, spring, summer. The videos look down an empty road, sharing a sense of that season.
These screens are made up of 9 separate monitors, so the picture is broken up into 9 squares that sometimes move in sync, but often record at a slightly different speed.
So the picture perfect fall or winter scene is now 9 different videos of the same road and each section in your viewpoint.
It was such a calming gallery, and I could have spent the whole day there. (In fact, there was a muser who was reading her kindle in there — not sure I'd go to a museum just to read, but this gallery was certainly a calming place to do so).
There's something fascinating about how the simplest art can be the most moving. I felt like I was really the viewer standing at the end of each lane in each season, watching the world go by — hearing the rustle of fall leaves, the silence of snow, the bright chirping of spring birds, and the shade on a hot summer's day. I can't even recall if there was any sound that accompanied the gallery, but it was lovely.
If you're able to get to the de Young before the end of the year, or have a chance to see David Hockney's work, I wholeheartedly encourage you to! And then come tell me what you thought!
